Future of proposed emergency shelter in limbo after Saskatoon city council passes new location rules

A recent vote by Saskatoon city council has left the future of a proposed emergency shelter in limbo as the city looks for an alternative location.

Council approved a motion last week stating that emergency shelters must be at least 250 metres away from elementary schools, which effectively shut down plans for a proposed shelter in the Sutherland neighbourhood. 

The vote came after residents expressed concerns about the shelter's proximity to a nearby school, a potential increase in crime and discarded needles in the neighborhood's parks. 

"It's a real setback. There was some time put in to try to find locations and that location is the one that we were able to get some agreement on with the province," Mayor Charlie Clark told CBC Tuesday.

"So now to have to go back to the drawing board is going to delay the process of getting badly needed shelters in place and it's very hard to find those locations right now."

Clark and Coun. David Kirton voted against the motion.

The proposed 30-space permanent emergency shelter  — which would have been run by the Mustard Seed, an Alberta-based Christian non-profit organization — was supposed to be operational by this spring. 

While the city administration scours for a location, Clark urged the public to share ideas or suggestions, calling it "a community problem to solve."

"We need to all figure out how to find these locations together so that we can have the right facilities in place to meet the needs of the growing number of people who are homeless in our community," he said.

"We can't really have it both ways. We can't both make the streets more safe by having less homelessness, and without having facilities and having those places."

He said Saskatoon is trying to learn from other cities and seeking input from shelter providers and existing community organizations.

Ward 1 Coun. Darren Hill, who represents the Sutherland area, was among those who raised concerns.

He has repeatedly talked about the effect shelters have on residential neighbourhoods, schools and businesses, saying he heard some of those concerns at a town hall meeting he organized in February.

"I'm relieved. It was not the ideal way with which I wanted to see that shelter location stopped. I don't think it was the best governance model that we used, but it was successful and that is the only reason that I supported it," he said Tuesday, crediting the closure to the advocacy of people from his ward.